Salaam everyone. Firstly, this is coming from my own experience and my understanding communicated to me by a few people of knowledge. It's in no way scholarly so keep that in mind. For several months, I suffered from severe waswas that always had me feeling that my food and clothes were not pure and that I had committed kufr or shirk and left the fold of the religion. It was really taking over my life and leading me to suffer at work, school, and in my personal life, but more importantly having devastating impacts on my deen. Here is what helped me in getting out of this horrible situation:
- Stay away from sin as much as possible. This was really the most helpful of all things by Allah's grace. The more we commit sin, the more we are blackening our heart and leaving ourselves vulnerable to spiritual attack. Eliminate sins from your lives as well as useless entertainment as much as possible.
- Continue to research the deen and cultivate a love for Islam in your heart. Waswas will often frustrate people to the point where you just want to give up and not pray anymore or be a practicing Muslim anymore because it seems so hard. Remind yourself of why you love being a Muslim regularly so that no matter how intense the waswas give, you know in your heart that Insha Allah you will pray, fast, worship anyway because you love and fear Allah.
- Make a lot of sincere, heart-pouring dua for the solution to this problem.
- Avoid fatwa shopping. I think a common issue with waswas is to never feel satisfied with one scholarly opinion and to keep searching again and again in fear of taking the wrong opinion. Go to one person of knowledge and ask them to give you the opinion that would be most cautious for your case (as it is important to avoid doubtful matters as the Prophet (s.a.w.) taught us, but unfortunately this is something waswas can exploit when you're on your own). Then once they've given you the answer, stop trying to do your own research online and texting every Muslim you know. Waswas can make you feel like you are a scholar and know better than scholars that permit things or are not concerned with the matters we are in purity. Astughfirullah, this is of course a form of arrogance and extremism in the religion that we must avoid. So, unless you are somebody of sufficient knowledge to actually come at your own scholarly conclusions, which is very few of us, don't fish around constantly for answers in a frenzy.
- Don't be afraid to seek medical help for OCD if warranted.
- Spend time often with other Muslims. This is most relevant for reverts or people disconnected from their families in some way or living away from home etc. Stay in touch with the community. Have Muslims over to your house for dinner regularly and go to their houses etc. Just going through personal lives of eating and praying etc. with other Muslims was very helpful I found in order to help me establish an Islamic routine with normalcy again.
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